I had a plan
by Essay33
Summary: Bella Swan is an accident waiting to happen, but Rosalie wants to prevent the inevitable. In-canon, i.e. nothing contradicts nor changes canon material. Based upon scenes in the novels and the Twilight and New Moon movies.
1. Protecting my family

**A/N: ** All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing except the contents of my imagination and a nearly-new Dell Studio notebook computer.

* * *

At first, I'd hated Bella Swan. I admit it.

I hated how she disrupted my life, my family's life, and I hated how she'd captivated Edward. I hated that a human, an ordinary human girl, had so much power over my brother. He'd do anything for her. Absolutely anything. All she had to do was crook her finger, and he'd go running to her side.

She had the kind of power I'd wanted over men, when I was human. And she was completely unaware of it. I hated that about her.

I thought she was ordinary, weak, ignorant, and I knew that I was infinitely prettier, stronger, and smarter than her. It should have been a simple thing, to scare her away from my family.

But it wasn't. "I could become the meal," she'd said, knowing the risk she posed to our family, knowing that if nature—our nature, that we worked so hard to suppress—took its course, she'd die, and we'd be exposed. And that didn't seem to scare her at all. Stupid human girl, she took the risk, embraced it, and I watched in disbelief and disgust as my brother embraced her, embraced the danger to us all.

I was dragged into the charade by Carlisle and Esme's desire to see Edward happy. I had to admit that with the human in his life, my brother was…_different_. Something in him responded to the fragile girl. He laughed in a way none of us had ever heard, not even Carlisle who'd known him best and longest. With the girl, Edward was both more relaxed than we'd ever seen him, and more tense, but in a different way. He was…_focused_. Focused completely on her, the clumsy girl whose every move screamed "breakable!"

She was a disaster waiting to happen.

The whole thing with the nomads, the tracker James fixating on my brother, wanting to hurt him through the girl, was quite predictable, I thought. Not that anyone had listened to me. At best, she was a vulnerability, and we couldn't afford vulnerabilities. She was Edward's one weakness, and the tracker honed in on it—on her—the moment he saw the two of them together.

I would gladly have handed her over to him, if it would have kept the rest of us safe. But it wouldn't. Edward would do anything to protect her. "Bella is with Edward. She's part of this family now," Carlisle insisted. "And we protect our family."

Damn it. I didn't want her to be part of my family. Why couldn't anyone else see what I did, that she could destroy Edward—destroy us all—just by being what she was. A fragile, mortal human. Worse, even more prone than most humans to accident and injury.

I never knew exactly what happened in Arizona. I'd stayed behind with Esme, while Edward, Carlisle and Emmett joined Jasper and Alice in Phoenix. Emmett told me about it later, but I found it impossible to believe. There was no way Edward could have done what they claimed he did…to actually drink her blood, to _swallow_ it, and yet save her life, not drain her, and not turn her. Even Carlisle didn't have that kind of restraint.

When they brought her back, when I saw her again, I had a moment where…well, I vividly remember the end of my human life. The bruises on her body, the fractured ribs and broken leg, they made me remember what it felt like to be beaten, damaged, _ruined. _

I hated her for that too.

I hated her for the fact that her eyes didn't hold the pain they should have held, nor the fear. No, the stupid human girl, when she looked at my brother, complete adoration and trust was in her gaze. She really didn't understand at all. He was going to be the death of her, and she of him, and him of our family.

I avoided her after that. I could do nothing to stop the train wreck, but I didn't have to watch it. I wouldn't watch it.

Alice had other ideas. She was determined to continue the ridiculous charade between our family and the human in our midst. She really seemed to believe that somehow there could be a happy ending.

Nobody knows better than I that there are no happy endings.

It was no surprise to me that Alice's birthday party for the human turned into a disaster. No surprise that Jasper broke under the strain of being forced to smell fresh human blood. No surprise that Edward, in his obsession to protect the unprotectable, made it all worse by injuring the clumsy girl further.

I hated her for Jasper's humiliation and guilt, and by extension the unhappiness it brought Alice (though my sister insisted on worrying about the future of the girl, as if that even mattered). I hated her for the pain in Esme's eyes as she saw Edward tearing himself up over the inevitable, and the pain in Carlisle's as he saw his family breaking apart. I hated her for the fact that my Emmett couldn't laugh this off, the way he did so many things.

I hated her for the agony on Edward's face, when he finally came to his senses and decided—far too late—to put an end to the charade.

She was finally out of his life. Out of my life. Out of my family's life. And this ought to have made me very, very happy indeed.

It didn't.

Edward left us. I couldn't lie to myself. He was…_broken_. Whatever that silly human girl had brought out in him, whatever she'd given him, it was gone now, and he wasn't the way he'd been before she'd stumbled into our lives. It hurt to be around him, to see how empty and emotionless he'd become. It was actually a relief when he left, under the excuse of tracking Victoria. We all knew he was no tracker, but really, if he was going to be miserable, and make us all miserable with him, better he spend time tracking and getting his head together.

Time would heal him. We had infinite time, and eventually the human girl would age and die, the way they all did, and Edward would perceive her the way we did every human who'd incidentally crossed our paths over the decades. A mere pause, a footnote, in the eternity of our lives.

His absence didn't help things at home. Esme grieved and Carlisle mourned. Alice became uncharacteristically quiet, and whatever visions she might have had she kept to herself. Jasper avoided all of us save Alice, and I wondered at times if he'd leave too. Not that he should have felt guilty, far from it. He'd done nothing but demonstrate once and for all why a human girl could never be part of our family.

And Emmett, well, honestly, I'd always said that his sense of humor drove me crazy. When he no longer made his obnoxious jokes, when he didn't have Edward to mercilessly tease, I missed that. A lot.

And I hated the human girl for that, too.

It was a relief, an enormous relief, when Alice finally shared a vision with us all. The girl was dead. She'd thrown herself off a cliff. When I heard that, I wondered if she'd got the idea from Esme. The shock and horrified empathy on Esme's face showed that she thought the same thing.

It was finally over though. Edward could come home. My family could be put back together again, the way it was before. The way it should be. And finally I could do what it took to make the right thing happen.

One phone call. A few words. My brother would know it was over, know the girl was gone, know that it was time to come home.

Except that it didn't work out that way.

I, better than anyone, ought to have known that there are no happy endings.

When I realized what Edward had chosen to do, that he'd decided to end his life, I would have done anything—_anything_—to stop him. This was _not_ what I'd planned, not what I'd wanted, not what I'd expected. This was worse than anything I'd imagined.

I could not hate the girl for this.

She did what I could not do. What I could not imagine doing. And she wasn't stupid, nor weak, nor ignorant when she did it. She took her fragile, irresistible, mortal human body to Italy, to face the Volturi. She stopped Edward from committing suicide. She begged Aro for Edward's life. She offered her own in exchange for his.

And she meant it. Every word.

Improbably, impossibly, the Volturi listened to her. Listened to Alice, who swore Bella would become one of us, who showed Aro a vision of it.

And Edward came home again.

I could not hate her for that. I could never hate Bella again. She would be part of our family. I could see that now, could see how Edward simply could not survive without her. Could see how she made him complete, the way Esme completed Carlisle, the way Alice and Jasper fit together, and the way Emmett made me feel whole.

I tried to explain to Bella though, why I had to vote against her becoming immortal like us. I could see that my words were useless. She didn't understand what this life meant. Just as she'd ignored the danger, she was now ignoring the cost. She would be changed, it was inevitable, and there was nothing more I could do about that.

So, it would be up to all of us, including me, to keep Bella safe until Edward finally changed her.

I could do that. I _would_ do that.

I knew he'd give her anything she wanted. But her request, to stay human through the wedding, _through the wedding night_…I wanted to beat my head against the wall when I heard of that idiocy. She'd never survive it. And killing her, the way Edward was certain to do, would destroy my brother.

I had one more chance to warn her. One more chance to get it right. To show her the reality of our world, and make it count. This time though, I would do it not because I hated Bella, but because I cared too much about my family…my brother…and my brother's mate, to let the inevitable happen.

I had a plan. And this time it would work. Just once, there had to be a happy ending.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, there will be a second part to this story. Will Rosalie learn anything from trying yet again to make things happen the way she thinks they ought?


	2. The plan takes shape

**A/N**: Our story veers slightly beyond canon now in a missing moment sort of way. Nothing in it contradicts canon. None of Stephenie Meyer's creations were harmed in the making of this chapter.

Twilight and all that it is belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing but the contents of my imagination and a nearly-new Dell Studio notebook pc.

* * *

The problem as I saw it was that Bella had no idea what was really involved in being a vampire. Edward had spent so much time acting like a human in her presence (and to be fair, we all had in our roles as high school students) that she had no idea of the darker side of our nature. Edward was so careful with her, he'd learned to suppress his instincts so well around her, that she couldn't possibly know the _drive_…the way our instincts, our hungers, dominated us.

The way they surely would overcome Edward, when he finally tried to mate with his human wife.

We all knew how tightly repressed he was. Emmett called him "the Hundred Year Old Virgin," and that really wasn't a joke. In typical Edward fashion, our brother was approaching the whole thing like it was no different than learning how to cook human food (something else almost as asinine that he'd tackled recently). He'd been to medical school twice, so he thought he knew all he needed about human anatomy. He went to Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett for more practical advice.

Emmett told me about it later. Edward really had no clue what he was going to be dealing with when he finally let go and let nature—his vampiric nature—take its course. "It would have been funny if it wasn't so pathetic, Rose. Our baby brother has _no idea_ what sex is really like. Ninety years of keeping it all tamped down…he's going to go off like a roman candle when he finally does get laid."

Underneath his typical juvenile humor, Emmett was concerned about Bella's safety. "I told him it was the most powerful thing he'd ever experience," he explained to me. "I tried to get him to see that it was right up there with our thirst for blood, and about as hard to control. But I don't think he really understood." He frowned, then the unusual concern smoothed back into his normally cheerful expression. "If anyone could do something this crazy and pull it off, it's Edward."

Crazy was exactly the word for it. There had to be a way to get Bella to see sense. To _see_…that might be it, I realized. If she actually saw the danger to her, saw what Edward really was like when he wasn't playing human, she'd realize that attempting to consummate their marriage while still human was suicide. She'd be safer jumping off a cliff.

Bella needed to see Edward hunt. She needed to see him track and kill his prey, because_ that, _the animalistic nature within us, was what she would be facing in their bedroom.

If I could have taken her hunting myself, I would, but I knew that was impossible. None of us, not even Edward, would dare risk letting go of our control while Bella was anywhere in the vicinity. No, I couldn't bring Bella to the hunt, so I'd have to bring the hunt to Bella. I'd have to find a way to film Edward, to film him while he was at his most elemental, completely controlled by the drive to feed. It wouldn't be easy, in fact, it would be damned difficult, to follow him closely enough yet avoid being drawn into the hunt myself. In a way, the difficulty made me all the more determined to do it.

I knew that if Edward gained any inkling of what I was planning to do, he'd put a stop to it. He'd probably rip my head off in the process. I had to be very careful not to think about it when he was at home. I'd gotten pretty good at blocking him out—we all had, over the years. It just took thinking about something Edward couldn't stand. Like '70s pop songs. Or reciting Lewis Carroll (Alice had told me she'd used "The Jabberwocky" repeatedly when she was planning Bella's birthday party). Emmett just thought about sex, which meant that most of the time Edward deliberately avoided his thoughts altogether.

I wanted to ask Emmett to help me. He could keep Edward out of his mind, he usually hunted with Edward, and he was all about teasing Bella. I thought he might look at this as a game, a prank even, and not discern the purpose behind it.

"Bella's never seen Edward hunt, has she?" I asked the question one afternoon as we relaxed in our room. Idly, I traced Emmett's impressive pectoral muscles with one forefinger.

"Hell no. He'd never let her near him. He wouldn't dare, Rose, you know that." Emmett snorted, his expression shocked.

"I wonder what she'd think, if she saw him take down a mountain lion." I didn't have to wait long for his response. He sat up, no humor in his eyes as they found mine.

"Rose. What are you planning?"

As usual, my husband was sharper than he acted, and he knew me far too well. "Nothing much," I quickly assured him. "I was just wondering if she has any idea what it's like. How we eat. And I thought that maybe if one of us filmed Edward hunting, kind of an educational video…"

My husband's eyes widened, shocked. "You want to show Bella a video of Edward _hunting_? No freaking way, Rose. He'd kill you. Seriously, Edward would flip out if you did that. Don't even think about it."

Before he could think about it any further, before he could realize that my purpose wasn't to educate Bella on our eating habits, I hurried to dismiss the entire idea. "You're right." I snuggled against his chest, hoping he'd drop the subject. "It was a silly idea."

"I'm sure she'll handle hunting just fine, Rose, when the time comes," he said dismissively. "She handles everything about us. Nothing about our life seems to upset her. Besides, by now Edward's probably told her all about it. Hell, he probably described it on their first date, right after he explained how much he wanted to kill her." Emmett laughed, that deep, carefree laugh that made me want to both punch him and wrap myself around him. I chose the latter, and let the conversation go.

With a little bit of online research and a quick trip to an electronics store I easily acquired everything I'd need. The camera was small; it fit easily into the palm of my hand. I put it away, refusing to think of it at all so as to keep even a glimpse of it from Edward. It was nearly impossible to keep secrets in our family. I wondered if Alice had seen my plan, and I had half a mind to confide in her, but something made me hold off. She was convinced that Edward and Bella would somehow be fine. After the cliff diving fiasco I personally thought it best not to rely on Alice's visions when it came to Bella.

I bided my time, waiting until one warm summer afternoon. A thunderstorm had swept through the previous day, with another one due later in the week. Edward and Emmett decided get a hunt in before it hit.

Keeping my mind focused on the mental image of a white tailed buck, "Mind if I tag along?" I asked.

"Sure, Rose," Emmett smiled at me, no clue that I wasn't thirsty. I felt a little guilty, then pushed the unaccustomed emotion down. I was doing the right thing.

As I followed my husband downstairs, Alice dashed out of her bedroom. "Wait for me, I'll come with you!" In her typically bubbly manner, she ignored my glare. Great, just great. She'd be certain to know what I was planning, to foresee the entire thing and its result.

As though she could read my thoughts (sometimes I wondered if her gift wasn't more like Edward's than she claimed) Alice looped her hand through my arm, tugging on me until I turned to face her. This was where she'd put a stop to my plan. She just smiled at me though, with that "I've seen the future _and I like it_," expression we all knew so well.

"Let's go see if Emmett can find a bear…and whether Edward can catch a mountain lion," she said, laughter in her tone, pulling me out the door. We broke into a run, chasing after the men who had already disappeared into the woods.

* * *

**A/N:** Is Alice really on the same page as Rosalie? Will Rosalie be able to capture Edward on camera? Stay tuned!


	3. Capturing the hunt

**A/N: **All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing except the contents of my imagination and a nearly-new Dell Studio notebook computer.

* * *

Alice and I caught up with Jasper, Emmett and Edward just as they entered a clearing in the forest, where a small herd of elk were grazing. We jokingly called elk and deer "fast food," partially because they were fleet of foot, but mostly because they were the equivalent of a human drive thru meal. They'd take the edge off our thirst but they weren't very appetizing. Not like carnivorous prey, wolves, bears and mountain lions in particular.

Jasper, being more thirsty than the rest of us, and less picky, quickly took down a buck elk. The other two men spread out, Emmett moving to the west and Edward heading north. I could faintly detect the scent of a black bear in the distance; my husband would be busy for awhile.

Without speaking, Alice glanced at me, then headed north after Edward. I followed right behind her. We ran silently for several minutes, until I caught the rich scent of a predator. Bobcat perhaps, maybe a mountain lion. Just as I thought about slowing my pace, Alice grabbed my arm, digging her small feet into the soil and coming to a complete stop. Though I wasn't hungry, and I knew I wasn't here to hunt, my instinctive reaction was to resist, to continue the chase. It took me a moment to realize Alice wasn't letting go of my arm, and another moment to suppress the instinctive growl that rose in my throat.

"What is it?" I hissed instead.

"Give it to me." She held out her free hand, still clinging to my arm with the other.

Confused, the scent of prey still clouding my mind, I shook my head. "I'll lose Edward. Let me go."

"No, he's going to find a mountain lion in 43 seconds. Give me the camera."

Stunned, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out the device. "What are you going—"

"I know what Bella needs to see," Alice cut me off, speaking quickly. "I can get it easier than you. He'll never know I'm there. Come on." With that, she let go of me, darting forward.

I followed her, but after a few dozen yards she stopped again, looked around, then tilted her head, considering a nearby pine tree. With a graceful leap, she reached her arms up, grabbing the lowest branch of the pine, swinging her slender body in an upward arc, twisting at the last moment to land unerringly upon her feet on another branch far above me. She danced to the thinning end of the branch, one hand flung out for balance, the other hand holding the camcorder. Bringing the device up to her face, Alice whispered "Perfect," then held herself absolutely still. The only sound I could hear was the faint whir of the camcorder lens sliding into focus.

Suddenly, the furious scream of a big cat shattered the stillness, followed by the answering growl of my brother. His voice was as feral as the cat's, a low predatory cry that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and would give a human nightmares for months. Through my memories of hunting alongside him, I knew what Edward would look like at this very moment, the black, singleminded hunger in his eyes, the tenseness of every muscle rippling under his pale skin, the ferocious snarl of his lips curling up over his glistening, razor sharp teeth as he moved in for the kill.

The cat's shriek of fury was abruptly silenced, a sharp crack telling me Edward had made the kill. He would be draining it now, satisfying his thirst. And that too was etched in my mind. The sinuous ease with which we'd curl our body possessively around our prey as we drained it. The exquisite rapture we felt as that liquid heat flowed from the animal, down our throat, bringing with it fresh strength and energy.

My thoughts shifted again to Emmett, and how my mate wrestled with then drained a bear. It was quite possibly the most impressive sight I could imagine. And it always reminded me of just what made Emmett so desirable to me, and so intimidating to every human who happened to so much as glance at him. The raw power he radiated at all times was magnified exponentially when he hunted, and breathtaking when he took his prey. It never failed to thrill me. I shuddered, bringing my thoughts back to the present.

Alice continued to hold the camcorder steady, focused on the scene hidden from my eyes but unfolding before hers. She was motionless, apparently in complete control of her body and her thoughts. Being upwind of us, Edward would detect no trace of us in the air, but Alice and I were surrounded by the scent of Edward's fresh kill. Though I was not truly thirsty, the smell of fresh, rich blood was a siren's call. Surely it pulled at Alice as much as it did me.

I hated how compulsive our natures were at times like this, the way the urge to feed controlled us. My self control was strong though; in some ways, it was stronger even than Edward's. While I never had tempted myself with the lure of a human mate's blood, when I was a newborn I'd killed seven humans and not tasted a drop of their blood. What was one mountain lion to that? Leaning against the trunk of the pine tree, I held my breath and waited for Alice to finish filming.

What seemed like mere seconds later, my sister leaped down from her perch in the pine tree, landing with perfect precision on the balls of her feet. I had to admit it, Alice was the most agile of us all. While her chopped hair and thin body kept her from being beautiful, she had me beat when it came to grace in motion. Grinning, she tossed the camcorder lightly into the air, catching it deftly in one hand before slipping it into her pocket. "Just what Bella needs. Come on!" She spun on her heel and dashed toward home, her small figure quickly vanishing into the forest.

Somehow my plan had been commandeered by Alice. She had a way of doing that when it came to our family. She'd get one of her strange, unpredictable visions, and instantly act upon it. Any sudden impulses I indulged in typically turned out to be mistakes; hers were almost always proven right. Edward often said only a fool would bet against Alice. That didn't mean I enjoyed cooperating with her though. We were too dissimilar, she and I, and we all too rarely saw eye to eye. As I followed her home, I hoped that this time would be different. This time, Alice and I had the same goal.


	4. In the frame

**A/N: **All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing except the contents of my imagination and a nearly-new Dell Studio notebook computer.

* * *

"All right, Alice, give it back now." I held out my hand for the camcorder, but my sister ignored me. I should have known better. Once Alice got going, there was no stopping her. I caught up with her just as she'd reached her and Jasper's room. She was all but oblivious to me as she headed straight for the computer on her elegant mahogany desk.

I'd thought to simply hand the camcorder to Bella, and let her view what I, or rather Alice, had filmed. Alice had other ideas. She pulled out the camcorder's memory card and slid it into the memory slot in her desktop computer. She used this computer mostly for fashion design, and it had a 30-inch high definition monitor which she now angled so both of us could easily view it. Slipping a blank disk into the computer's disk drive, Alice played back the footage she'd shot, instructing the computer to record it onto a new DVD.

Now I understood what her intentions were. Instead of viewing the footage on the little camcorder monitor, Bella would be able to watch it on a computer, or even a television screen. The impact would be considerably greater. Why hadn't I thought of that? No matter, Alice had, and grudgingly I had to admit I was glad that she'd taken over.

Alice's filming was, I also had to admit, impressive. She'd begun with a wide angle shot of the clearing where Edward cornered the mountain lion. The image was soft, the muted light filtering through the clouds giving the scene an ethereal quality. The figures of Edward and the big cat moved slowly in the center of the screen, shifting in a cautious, sideways dance around one another.

Alice must have known exactly how the interaction would play out. The focus tightened suddenly, just as the mountain lion screamed. A closeup of its snarling roar was followed by a closeup of Edward's response. Reflexively, I took a small step backward; his face on the wide monitor, teeth bared, eyes furious as a hellacious growl ripped from his throat, was unexpectedly startling. Bella should be scared spitless when she saw _that_. Any normal human would be terrified. Of course, Bella wasn't exactly _normal_. Still, there was no way she could see this side of Edward without being profoundly affected by it.

The camcorder's focus pulled back a bit, in perfect time to reveal Edward's entire form as he sprang, lunging toward his prey in a fluid display of grace and power, throwing his arms around the big cat. He twisted in mid air, his hands tightening around the cat's neck even as the animal thrashed its hind legs, scrabbling in the sparse grass and dead pine needles, struggling futilely to gain purchase enough to claw my brother.

Edward's hands remained around the animal's neck as his feet dug into the ground, bracing himself as though he were truly made of stone. His long pianist's fingers flexed slightly against the furry throat in their grasp with what seemed like a gentle movement, almost as though he were caressing the big cat. A sharp crack rang out and the animal went limp—he'd broken its neck cleanly.

And now Alice had zoomed in for the money shot: A closeup of Edward's face as he bent to drink from his kill. His expression changed from one of savagery to hunger as his eyes closed, he took a deep breath, and his lips pulled back from his teeth. It made me oddly thirsty to watch him sink his teeth smoothly into the cat's muscular neck.

Edward was a rather obsessively neat eater (Emmett said he ate the same way he organized his room, "Two steps away from OCD"); no blood was actually visible as he drank. His face though was quite a study, shifting now from hunger to satisfaction to outright pleasure as he drained the animal. As he finished, dropping the animal and swallowing one final time, I could see nothing human about him. He was the absolute epitome of a predator.

I could also see why humans found him so fascinating. There was something compelling in an unearthly way about him. The single minded focus he was capable of was never more evident than when he dealt with prey. And when he played the piano, or read a book, or did just about anything. It frankly drove me crazy, but I could imagine how a human like Bella felt when that focus was trained on her. I found it aggravating, but then I thought Edward was utterly annoying most of the time. He annoyed me the first very time I heard his voice, and that opinion had not changed in the intervening decades. But I could see the attraction he held for others.

He was nearly as beautiful as I, and that was saying a lot. Too bad that whenever I looked at his perfectly sculpted face, I invariably wanted to punch it. He was my brother, and as such I loved him, but he certainly was difficult to live with. Unlike Emmett, with his perpetually cheerful acceptance of everything about our existence, Edward over thought everything. Emmett wrestled with his prey and half the time end up with shredded clothes and dirt under his nails. He threw himself into everything he did with total enthusiasm, whether it was hunting a bear or making love to me. Edward couldn't do anything without thinking it to pieces first. Only when he was hunting did he stop thinking and simply act, but even then, it was almost like watching a choreographed scene, perfectly executed in flawless detail.

Alice had kept Edward's face in the camcorder frame as he stood up, dusting his hands on his pants, then running one hand though his hair. It was a stark contrast to what we'd seen just moments earlier; now he was relaxed, radiating satisfaction. As the camcorder recorded his expression he paused, his eyes narrowing, shoulders tensing slightly. He gazed slowly around the clearing then stopped, motionless, just as he was looking in the camcorder's direction—it almost appeared as though he were looking right into the lens--and at that moment Alice had faded the scene to black.

"Did he see you?" If he had, I would put an end to this right now. There was no way I was risking my brother's wrath before I completed my plan.

Alice snorted indelicately. "Of course not. I'm better than that. He'd just caught the scent of the lion's mate. Here." She slid the disk out of the computer drive and slipped it into a clear plastic case. Her eyes took on the familiar distant gaze that told me she was looking for the future. "Have her watch it on the flat screen in Edward's room. She'll be alone in there for about half an hour tonight, while Edward talks with Carlisle." Her eyes refocused on me, and my sister smiled. She held out the DVD case and I took it from her hand.

For a moment, an unfamiliar hesitation came over me. I wasn't used to reaching my goals with so little effort on my own part. Alice had done everything, and it was unexpectedly perfect. It _was_ perfect, I told myself; the DVD of Edward's kill would do the perfect job of keeping Bella from attempting a fatally foolish act with my brother. They'd waited for nearly a year and a half, they could just wait until she was changed, and spare us all yet another catastrophe.

Still, without knowing why, I hesitated, my hand holding the DVD case extended toward Alice. "Are you certain…" I didn't finish the sentence.

Alice knew what I meant. "This is exactly what Bella needs to see." She patted my hand and jumped to her feet, ready to dash out of the room. As she reached the doorway, she pivoted on one toe in a movement a professional dancer would envy, and tossed another smile to me over her shoulder. "We're doing the right thing. Trust me."


	5. Just the place

**A/N:** Twilight and all that it is belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing but the contents of my imagination and a nearly-new Dell Studio notebook pc.

* * *

By the time the rest of my family arrived back at home, I'd hidden the DVD of Edward's hunt in my room and was relaxing downstairs. Alice and Jasper settled on the sofa in front of Emmett's new flat screen TV. Emmett joined them there. He and Jasper were still trying to beat each other at World of Warcraft; so far Jasper was one game ahead of Emmett. Competition brought out Emmett's inner child in the worst way; he was determined to win the game tonight.

Esme entered the house shortly after the boys, Carlisle right behind her. They paused just inside the front door, speaking quietly to one another. Esme was wondering if she ought to pick up more food for Bella. At Edward's request we kept the kitchen stocked with food his human girlfriend enjoyed. I thought it was ridiculous—she could eat that nasty yogurt and stinking bananas at her own house. We didn't eat elk at hers, after all. But no, Esme wanted Bella to feel at home here, and providing her with human food was part of the deal.

Carlisle kissed Esme gently, then more firmly as she wound her arms around his neck. Lots of things had changed in the seven decades since I'd become a Cullen. Carlisle and Esme's love for one another was not one of them. No matter where we lived or what age we pretended to be, their relationship provided the foundation for our family. Everything we had together was constructed upon it.

I really didn't like to spend time thinking philosophically about my life—it was what it was. But sometimes, when I couldn't help but feel discontent, I looked at Carlisle and Esme and I knew I wanted that. I wanted what they had. In my own way I had it with Emmett, and Carlisle'd given me him too. When I was new to the family I resented owing literally everything I had to Carlisle. As time passed though, I learned to appreciate more what I'd been given, especially the way Carlisle treated me like a much loved daughter. Even when I wasn't very lovable, he never made me feel unwanted. I'd never be as forgiving as Carlisle, but I had learned to be as protective of our family.

Eventually Carlisle went into his study, and Esme retreated to the kitchen to make a shopping list. Edward still hadn't returned. I wondered if Alice's vision had changed—perhaps he was not coming home this evening, but spending the night at Bella's instead. Moving to sit down on the sofa next to Emmett, I glanced over at Alice. Alice's eyes remained on the video game, but she shook her head slightly in negation. Good, nothing had changed.

And then the sound of Edward and Bella's voices could be heard approaching the house. In they came, laughing together. Bella's face was flushed with her typical blush staining her cheeks. And as usual, her enticing human scent floated through house the moment she walked through the door. Jasper's fingers tightened on the video game controller and he closed his eyes for a moment, centering himself. The pull of Bella's blood had not diminished for him but he had become considerably better at dealing with it.

Emmett looked up from the game, calling out "Hey Bella!" He was always glad to see her, in great part because of the mishaps that plagued her. My husband had a fondness for slapstick humor, and Bella's clumsiness provided him with an abundant supply.

"Hey Emmett," Bella replied softly, her blush intensifying. "Jasper, Alice," she acknowledge them. Then she glanced at me, and her voice was more reserved. "Rosalie."

I greeted her with a nod. It was never easy to talk to Bella. We'd started off on the wrong foot, and though we had come to understand each other, it wasn't a friendship.

Edward ignored me as usual. He smirked at Emmett, "Still trying, huh? Jasper's going to own you."

"Oh yeah, little brother? You couldn't—"

"Edward?" Carlisle's voice interrupted the smack talk. "Can you spare me a few minutes?"

"Of course." Edward kissed Bella gently on the forehead. Then, just as Alice predicted, my brother joined Carlisle in his study.

Bella didn't hesitate, taking the opportunity to disappear upstairs. A few moments later we heard Edward's bedroom door close.

This was where it would get tricky.

I wandered into the laundry room, where I'd left a small stack of Emmett's and my clothing earlier in the day. Scooping up the folded clothes, I headed toward the staircase. Appearances might easily be deceiving, thoughts were a bit more of a challenge.

_"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,  
As he landed his crew with care;  
Supporting each man on the top of the tide  
With a finger entwined in his hair..._

That ought to keep Edward out of my mind long enough for me to spend a moment with Bella.

…_Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:  
That alone should encourage the crew…_

I set the laundry down on my dresser and retrieved the DVD from my lingerie drawer.

…_Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:  
What I tell you three times is true..._

The hallway outside Edward's room remained empty. So far, so good.

…_A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense,  
Might perhaps have won more than his share..._

Using human speed, I swung the handle on Edward's door down and pushed the door open.

…_But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense,  
Had the whole of their cash in his care…_

Her legs crossed beneath her and a book opened upon her lap, Bella was seated in the middle of Edward's gold-draped bed, The oversized piece of furniture had been obtained specifically for his human girlfriend, and it now dominated my brother's formerly austere room the way she dominated his life. Its intricate wrought iron headboard had been damaged, the part of my mind not reciting Lewis Carroll noted. One of the ornately crafted decorative roses had apparently been snapped off.

Bella looked up eagerly as I entered the room. As soon as she realized I was not Edward, her expression shifted to one of cautious curiosity.

…_There was one who was famed for the number of things  
He forgot when he entered the ship…_

I slid my hand across the top of the DVD player situated beneath Edward's flat screen TV. Bella stared at me, her eyes wide. I held the DVD case out to her.

…_His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and rings,  
And the clothes he had bought for the trip. _

"Watch this. Please."

Slowly she took the case, turning it over in her hands. She opened it and carefully removed the DVD.

Without another word, I left the room.

* * *

**A/N:** The poem Rosalie recites to herself is Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark."


	6. Trust and consequences

**A/N: **All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing except the contents of my imagination and a barely used Dell Studio notebook computer.

* * *

There was no sound from upstairs as I returned to the living room. Reclining on the love seat, I picked up the latest copy of _Motor Trend_ and began to thumb through it. Two minutes and forty seven seconds later a muffled yelp came from the direction of Edward's room. It was cut off abruptly, and I imagined Bella shoving one of the overstuffed pillows on Edward's new bed against her mouth to keep from screaming. Jasper looked up from his game, glancing toward the stairs, a small frown crossing his face. Alice smiled to herself. Emmett's attention remained focused on the video game.

There were no further noises from upstairs. I focused my attention on the automotive magazine. The new Tesla sounded intriguing. The advantages of an electric car had always been less to us; anything that required recharging in fewer than 500 miles was impractical. But I could easily make a few adjustments to up the car's current 250 mile charge limit. And driving 130 mph without engine noise was certainly attractive. The car showed promise, and so did the company. I'd have to ask Alice if getting in on their IPO would be a good idea.

Edward was in Carlisle's study for exactly twenty eight minutes, just as Alice predicted. When he came out, he glanced over at me, clearly puzzled. He'd probably caught some of my mental recitation of Lewis Carroll as I expected, and wondered what I'd been blocking from him. I returned his look with one of (I hoped) complete boredom. Apparently it was sufficient; he turned away from me and headed upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.

Fleetingly, I thought about leaving the house. I was no coward though; I'd take whatever fallout ensued. I glanced at Alice. Her eyes were closed, a faraway look on her face. A slow smile tilted her lips upward and she relaxed perceptibly.

I relaxed too. All the tension I felt over the results of what I'd done slowly drained away. In its place rose a vaguely familiar feeling of anticipation, which gradually increased, becoming a pleasurable tension. I shifted my legs restlessly, my eyes drawn to Emmett, whose hands suddenly clenched on the video game controller. "Damn it Jasper!" he growled, "Nice way to cheat!"

"It's not me," Jasper gasped. His game controller dropped to the floor as his hands reached for Alice, an odd mixture of eagerness and shock spreading across his features.

Alice giggled, wrapping her arms around her mate.

Carlisle came out of his office and headed straight for the kitchen. I heard Esme sigh happily, and I made a mental note to avoid the kitchen for the next hour or so.

The wave of desire Jasper was channeling intensified. An overwhelming urge to slide onto Emmett's lap swept around me. At the same time, a new emotion trickled into the rising passion…frustration. Gut wrenching sexual frustration.

"GOD DAMNIT, EDWARD!" Emmett yelled. My husband had unerringly identified the source of the surging emotions.

Jasper's face took on a look of focused intensity as he strove to push back the wave of transferred lust and replace it with something less compelling. Anything would be preferable to being forced to experience Edward's painfully deferred sexual gratification. Gradually the emotion faded, becoming something akin to background noise. Three of us sighed with relief; Jasper continued to frown for a moment longer. "How much longer 'til the wedding?" he asked.

"Three weeks," Alice answered promptly.

Emmett groaned. "I can't take three more weeks of this. Seriously."

Bella must not have watched the DVD after all. I clenched my hands. After all that effort to get it to her, she didn't watch it. Instead the two of them were, as usual, tempting fate by pushing Edward's self control to the limit.

I ground my teeth, glaring at Alice who was still draped around Jasper. I ought to have known better than to trust her vision. "You said…" I hissed.

"I was right," she responded. "It was _perfect_. Everything is going to be fine now."

Jasper and Emmett were watching our exchange with bemusement, Emmett's face particularly puzzled. Ignoring them, my sister grinned at me, completely happy with the situation and totally unconcerned about my growing irritation. "Oh Rosalie, don't be upset. Everything is going to be fine," she repeated.

Typical. I should have known Alice wasn't seeing this the same way I was. "Sure, everything's going to be simply wonderful. Edward's going to do what Bella wants, which he _always_ does, and she's going to get hurt, which she _always_ does, only this time he'll actually _kill_ her, and that'll destroy him, and that'll destroy Esme and Carlisle, and our whole family. That'll be just _fine_."

Alice was still grinning, even as she shook her head in negation. "I'm not saying Bella can't possibly be injured in any way; Bella has an amazing knack for getting hurt. But now there's a 99% probability that she'll survive their honeymoon, that Edward won't kill her. Even by accident."

My fingers itched to smack that grin off my sister's face. I restrained myself, barely, but my tone was acidic. "You've seen that? You've seen that they make love, with her still human, and she's completely healthy afterward?"

"I've seen Bella with Edward during their honeymoon, alive, that much, yes," She was confident, but I sensed she was holding something back.

"What else have you seen?"

"I'm trying _not_ to see," she explained, bouncing slightly on her toes in typical giddy Alice fashion. "Edward's asked me to give them that much privacy. So I'm not _looking_, but I have seen them happy together after the wedding, on their honeymoon. Besides, I know he won't kill her now. You've done what was necessary to make that virtually certain." She grew unusually serious, reaching out to lay her small hand on my clenched fist. "By videotaping Edward hunting, and showing the film to her, you've helped Bella trust Edward completely, even when his appearance ought to terrify her."

It grated on me to admit it, but the words ground out anyway from between my teeth, "I don't understand."

"Damn, Rosie, you actually filmed Edward?" Emmett's voice held equal parts outrage and admiration. I'd all but forgotten the men were listening to us. There'd be hell to pay later if Emmett was upset that I'd gone against his advice.

"I think I understand," Jasper's calm tone cut through the emotions in the room. "Edward could have killed Bella when they first met. He wanted to. And yet he didn't, in great part because Bella trusted him. She trusted him completely, put herself willingly in his hands, literally. He was able to touch her, to kiss her, to spend entire nights holding her. He was able to fall in love with a human—a human so profoundly desirable to him that he ought to have taken her a thousand different times. But he didn't. Because of Bella's absolute trust in him. And that, somehow, has made it possible for him to control himself completely with her."

"That control is—" I began.

"That control is unbreakable," Jasper cut me off, his voice remaining calm. "I've felt it. It's like her blood no longer calls to him, or rather, the desire he has for her as his mate overrides everything else. That's why the frustration we feel from him is so strong. That part of him, the basic male part, he's having trouble restraining." He paused, a slight smirk tilting the corners of his mouth up. Emmett snickered. "But her _life_ is safe—as safe as Bella's life ever can be—in Edward's hands," Jasper added.

"Because she _trusts_ him." The sarcasm in my tone made Jasper frown again.

"Yeah, Rose," Emmett spoke up. "I get it. I think you actually did a good thing, filming Edward, but you'd better hope he never finds out. Now Bella knows what he'll look like when they finally do get it on. And it won't freak her out. She'll trust him then too, trust that he'll keep her safe. So he will."

"Exactly!" Alice trilled.

Great. Just great. Instead of warning her off from her asinine idea of human/vampire sex, my plan actually made certain it would happen. "This makes no sense to me. Bella's 'trust' is totally foolish, and wrong, and it's putting Edward in a terrible position."

"Maybe the 'position' he's in with Bella is the problem," Emmett said with a snicker. "That would explain the lack of action."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Emmett, _really_. It's the way their relationship works, Rosalie. Bella's trust is part of her love for Edward, and it's helped make him fiercely protective of her. It always has, since the day they met. She's never been afraid of him, and thanks to you, she never will be. Not even when he finally lets go with her.

I thought about that for a moment. "So my video of Edward hunting, rather than being a horror movie for Bella, was some kind of weird turn-on for her?"

Emmett guffawed, "Sweet! You gave Bella vampire porn! No wonder Edward's got blue balls tonight."

I glared my husband, then shrugged. "I give up. I'm never going to be able to keep Bella safe from her own idiocy. I'm never going to be able to help her at all, in fact, whatever I do when it comes to Bella is totally worthless. Or worse." I winced, thinking of my phone call that sent Edward to Italy, and very nearly to his—and Bella's—death.

Emmett got up off the sofa and walked over to put his arms around me. I wanted to hold onto my anger, to shove away from him, but as always his bear hug embrace was irresistible. I let the anger drain from me, replacing it with grudging acceptance of the situation. "Aww Rose," Emmett rested his chin on my head. "You meant well, babe. You never know, one day Bella might really need you. And when she does, I know you'll be there for her."

I couldn't imagine that ever happening. It didn't matter anyway; Bella's life wasn't my problem anymore, it was Edward's. And I planned to leave it completely in his hands.

* * *

**A/N:** We're not quite done yet, stay tuned!

The Tesla Roadster is real, and it's exactly Rosalie's kind of car. The prototype was introduced in July 2006, which is when she read about it in _Motor Trend_ magazine.

And yes, they sell them in Seattle (check them out at wwwDOTteslaDOTcom/teslastore/seattle).


	7. Epilogue

**A/N: **All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer, including the portions of this chapter which are quotations from the novel _Twilight_. I own nothing except the contents of my imagination and a barely used Dell Studio notebook computer.

* * *

**EPILOGUE

* * *

**

Bella held the DVD Rosalie had given her, wondering what on earth it could contain. Edward's older sister hardly ever spoke to her. The outright animosity the beautiful blonde had once radiated was fortunately gone, replaced by tolerance. Tolerance was good. She'd take tolerance and be thrilled to get it. Bella didn't expect Rosalie to care for her, certainly not the way Alice did, but she wanted to get along with all of Edward's family. It was hard enough to deal with the stress of the upcoming wedding without having Rosalie's perpetual dislike of her heaped on top of it.

The sudden appearance of Rosalie in Edward's room had been a surprise. While Alice thought nothing of dancing in whenever the mood suited her, Rosalie avoided her brother's room entirely. And now here she was, bearing gifts. Bella looked down at the DVD, wondering if she ought to talk to Edward before playing the thing.

The same stubbornness that led Bella to fall in love with a vampire, that led her to take life-threatening risks just to hear his voice when he abandoned her, that led her to Italy to save him, that led her to thwart his subsequent attempts to keep _her_ safe when she persisted in her friendship with a werewolf, and that led her to demand one final dangerous human experience after agreeing to marry her vampire, now led her to reject talking to her fiancé before viewing whatever his sister had given her. She slid the disk into Edward's DVD player. Picking up the remote control, Bella curled up on the middle of the bed. She shivered, then scooted up a bit and pulled the golden duvet over her lap, wrapping it around herself.

Looking down at the remote control in her hands, Bella turned on the flat screen, then hesitated just a second before pressing "DVD" and "PLAY."

The sound of wind blowing softly through leaves filled the room. Gradually the black surface of the flat screen lightened to display a scene of pine branches, thick with green needles. After a moment the focus moved past the branches to reveal a small field, a clearing in a forest perhaps. Tall pine trees lined the far side of the field. Though the camera that shot this footage was motionless enough to be held by a tripod, clearly whoever was using it was somewhere high above the ground, probably in a tree. Then the camera shifted slightly, and the focus zoomed in on a figure, crouching, moving very slowly into view.

Bella's breath caught in her throat. The figure was unmistakably Edward, but an Edward she'd never seen before.

He wore an ordinary (for him; they were no doubt designer label) pair of jeans and a pullover sweater, the sort of outfit Bella had seen on him a thousand times. This time though, his elegant body leaned forward in a predatory stance, every muscle tensed beneath the fabric of his clothing. Each step he took was deliberate, precise, and yet barely controlled, as though at any second he could erupt into motion.

He was beautiful, his movements sinuous, almost cat-like.

Bella felt lightheaded and realized she'd been holding her breath. She inhaled shakily, leaning forward as the film progressed to a closeup of Edward's face. His chiseled jaw was set, his mouth a thin line, his eyes fierce and startlingly black.

She'd seen that expression, those eyes, before.

Biology class. The day she'd first met Edward. He'd looked exactly like this, his hands fisted, his jaw taut, his eyes dark and aggressive as he glared at her.

This time he wasn't glaring at a brown-eyed human girl. He was staring at a huge cat, some kind of cougar or mountain lion which crouched a few yards away from him, ears flattened, tail twitching angrily.

Edward was hunting, and the big cat was his prey.

The intensity of his expression had chilled Bella to the bone when he first directed it upon her, but now, eighteen months later, she found it utterly compelling. She'd once asked him if she could watch him hunt. His reaction had been harshly negative.

_"Is that something I might get to see?"_

_"Absolutely not!" Edward's face turned even whiter than usual, and his eyes were suddenly furious. Bella leaned back, stunned and — though she'd never admit it to him — frightened by his reaction. He leaned back as well, folding his arms across his chest._

_"Too scary for me?" she asked when she could control her voice again._

_"If that were it, I would take you out tonight," he said, his voice cutting. "You __need __a healthy dose of fear. Nothing could be more beneficial for you."_

On the flat screen Edward and the cat circled slowly around one another, two lethal predators sizing one another up before the attack. The animal was _huge_, its length from nose to tail easily surpassing Edward's height by several inches. Suddenly the big cat screamed, an angry feline challenge. Bella jumped, shrieking in surprise before she could stop herself.

Edward's responsive snarl was animalistic and primitive. It made the breath catch in Bella's throat. Heat flooded her face, and her stomach tightened.

He was beyond beautiful, he was _magnificent_.

Before the cat could spring, Edward leapt, the motion so quick it was a blur across the flat screen. In the blink of an eye the animal was scrabbling beneath him, struggling to defend itself. Edward braced himself effortlessly, in complete control of the cat. His arms, which wrapped tenderly around Bella each night, now coiled like iron fetters around the big cat's neck. His long, deceptively elegant fingers stroked the cat's throat in a gentle caress. Bella shuddered, imagining those cool fingers trailing seductively down the side of her own throat. Feeling too warm now, she absentmindedly pushed the golden duvet off her lap.

From the flat screen's speakers a sharp crack rang out. Bella flinched. The big cat went limp in Edward's arms. Edward's eyes closed, and he inhaled deeply. Unconsciously mirroring him, Bella took a deep breath, leaning forward slightly, entranced.

She'd seen this expression on his face before too, the very first time he'd kissed her. Like he was savoring the moment, taking it in—taking _her_ in—with his senses.

Bella's rapt gaze took in the way Edward's face eased from intense desire into a new expression she'd never seen before. She'd imagined it though, and the reality was more sensual than she'd dreamed. The familiar heat of a blush reddened her cheeks.

Balancing the pull of his desires and the push of maintaining his self control had been a constant struggle for Edward. There was no struggle now though, as he bent his head and drank from his prey.

She pulled her gaze away from Edward's face to take in the smooth white column of his throat, the rhythmic flex as he swallowed, and the way his hands continued to hold his prey, fingers kneading reflexively in the thick tawny fur.

Somehow that only made it worse; she was really blushing now, the heat moving all the way down to her chest. She crossed and uncrossed her legs restlessly, rubbing them against the smooth fabric beneath her. Once again the memory of his honeyed voice echoed in her mind.

_"It was just the very thought of you being there… while we hunted." His jaw tightened._

_"That would be bad?"_

_Edward spoke from between clenched teeth. "Extremely."_

_"Because… ?"_

_He took a deep breath and stared through the windshield at the thick, rolling clouds that seemed to press down, almost within reach._

_"When we hunt," he spoke slowly, unwillingly, "we give ourselves over to our senses… govern less with our minds. Especially our sense of smell. If you were anywhere near me when I lost control that way…"_

So_ this_ was what Edward was really like when he let his senses govern him. _This_ was what he'd be like when he finally stepped past the oh-so-careful physical boundaries he'd set with her. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, Bella had a dim realization that perhaps she ought to be concerned. Alarmed, even. She considered that fact for a moment; a normal person probably would be afraid, afraid to get _thatclose_ to someone as obviously lethal as Edward.

She couldn't feel any fear though.

What she felt was…_aroused_.

Edward hunting was the most exciting thing she'd ever seen. He'd always been devastatingly handsome, but this…this was different. This took handsome and ratcheted it up to jaw dropping _hot_.

In a surprisingly short span of time he finished with the big cat, swallowing once more, then raising his head as he dropped the now quite limp feline carcass. He straightened from the crouch he'd held throughout his meal, brushing his fingers idly down the denim that covered his thighs.

Unconsciously, Bella mimicked his motion along her own jean clad hips. She felt drained, exhausted, yet Edward looked as though he'd just gone for a stroll through the woods, not tracked down, wrestled with and killed a 150 pound wildcat.

As Bella watched, he lifted one hand and in his familiar gesture ran it through his tousled hair. Bella's fingers twitched, tingling with the phantom sensation of threading through soft bronze strands. And then her heart skipped a beat as on the flat screen Edward turned slightly, his eyes meeting hers.

For a moment it seemed he was staring right at her, his eyes preternaturally alert and shockingly intense.

Three seconds passed, and the image faded to black. Bella sat motionless for a long time, staring at the darkened flat screen, her breath coming in shallow gasps. The DVD had ended, she slowly realized. She'd actually forgotten she was watching a recording…she'd felt, especially toward the end, as though she'd actually been physically present with Edward.

Sliding off the bed, Bella grabbed onto one of the wrought iron bedposts when her legs threatened to collapse. She laughed at herself, realizing that watching Edward hunt had left her quite literally weak in the knees. Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself, she managed to walk over to the DVD player and remove the disk, replacing it in its case. Without thinking about it, she set the case atop a stack of similar cases on one of Edward's bookshelves.

At that moment, the bedroom door swung silently open and Edward stepped into the room.

His topaz eyes met hers, and he smiled.

One minute and fifty three seconds later, Edward was pinning her wrists gently but firmly at her sides as he pulled back reluctantly from their kiss. He was actually trembling, Bella noted through the fog of passion that all but overwhelmed her. She was dimly aware that they'd ended up on the big golden bed, her legs wrapped around her fiancé's waist, her hands fisted in his hair. He could have done anything to her in that moment, absolutely anything, and she would have welcomed it—her ability to think rationally had apparently fled the moment he'd entered the room.

"Sorry, sorry," she murmured, struggling to be coherent as she slowly unwrapped herself from around him. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No. Don't be. What you do to me…" He shifted against her, the need to ease himself almost unbearable. He shuddered, resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes, gathering the shreds of his self control. The pained expression on his face (it actually _hurt_ to restrain himself, she realized) relaxed gradually as he held his breath for several seconds. Rolling swiftly and smoothly onto his back he brought Bella to rest atop him. "There. Safer. Not much, but still…"

His eyes were dark now, dark as they'd been on the DVD, but with a different kind of hunger burning in them. It thrilled her to see the depth of his desire for her, but it also humbled her. He could take down a savage wild animal effortlessly, and yet never had she felt so safe as she did in his arms.

"What brought_ that_ on?" he asked her, his hands sliding up her hips, slipping beneath her untucked shirt to carefully stroke the soft curve of her waist.

"Just the sight of you," Bella responded, her lashes fluttering down, hiding her eyes.

With his cool lips covering his razor sharp teeth, Edward nipped gently at her earlobe, smiling as she shivered involuntarily and her legs tightened around his hips. "Three weeks," he murmured into her ear with a soft groan, then pressed a gentle kiss into the hollow of her throat.

"Mmhmm." She relaxed against him, savoring the way his arms molded her soft curves into his hard angles.

"It's going to be the longest three weeks of my existence."

"Mmmhmmm." Dipping her head, Bella lowered her lips to Edward's.

From deep in his chest came the rumble of a catlike purr, and his mouth opened beneath hers, the tip of his tongue tracing the curve of her lower lip, his sweet breath mingling with her own.

* * *

**A/N:** I wonder if Edward will ever find that DVD, and what _his_ reaction to it would be. That's a story for another time. Thank you for reading, and a special thanks to those who left a review.


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